Srinagar/July, 30 :Agha Azhar Ali Qazilbash son of Late Agha Shaukat Ali and nephew of top Kashmiri academician Agha Ashraf Ali, passed away in USA on Monday after protracted illness in U.S.A .
Family sources said the rasm-e – qul of the deceased will be observed at Idarah Jaffaria Islamic Centre, Maryland, Washington D.C on Friday, August 3.Agha Ashraf Ali has expressed grief on Azhar’s demise.
Azhar’s father Agha Shaukat Ali, former General Secretary of Muslim Conference in Kashmir and a confidant of M.A. Jinnah , had moved to Pakistan in 1947 where he served in the capacity of Director General Tourism and later Information Secretary during President Genral Ayub Khan’s tenure.
Azhar was born in 1951 in Lahore and grew up at his maternal home, the Mian Nizamuddin family who were custodians of the Shalimar Gardens Lahore.
He was an alumnus of Aitchison College Lahore , class of 1970 where he was referred to as “a proud son of Kashmir”.
He later went for his CPA to London School of Economics. He worked in London and later moved to the United States where his father and other members of the family lived.
He worked with the Citibank as Senior Vice President.
“Azhar had been fighting Gastric cancer bravely from the last two years. He refused Chemotherapy and radiation. The doctors had given him few weeks. Sadly he passed away today”, said one of the cousins from Srinagar, Advocate Agha Himayun .
Agha Azhar is survived by his wife and four daughters.
He is also survived by his two sisters Tehmina Agha and Rabia Agha who live in the United States.
